Unaccompanied

The drive to the Daily Planet was slow due to the snow and ice, but otherwise uneventful. Lois’s was one of the only cars on the road for the whole trip, and the only car in the Daily Planet parking lot.

Due to the weather, the time, and the temperature, she pulled right up to the front door and jumped out, pocketing her keys as she pulled out her badge and scanned her way into the building.

Inside was dark and dead quiet, an eerie contrast to how the building usually was during the daytime. Her steps echoed against the tile all the way to her desk where she had left her folder of notes, references, and currently gathered data for her next article, but when she picked it up, she accidentally knocked over the framed photo she kept on her desk.

She picked it up and, after making sure the glass wasn't cracked, held it for a moment, looking at the four of them, herself, Clark, Kon, and Jon posed around the brightly decorated tree.

Last Christmas, Kon had only been very recently adopted. It had been a rough time to say the least, for all of them.

Kon still hadn't fully believed that they weren't either some sort of psychological test set up by Lex, or going to hurt him themselves.

Clark and Lois, as Kon had been made and raised in Lex’s care his whole life, had also been wary of him being in their home.

The only one who adjusted fast had been Jon, who was beyond ecstatic to have a brother and went out of his way to insist that every tradition they had would be adapted to include Kon.

Last Christmas had been all kinds of stressful for all four of them, but they had still managed to come together for a halfway decent celebration.

This was supposed to have been their first ‘real’ Christmas as a family.

She sighed and put the photo back, and then nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang.

*Unknown Caller*

She didn't recognize the number, and for that reason almost just ignored it.

Informants tended to call at any random hour and she had already promised Kon he wouldn't have to stay at the party for very long. Whatever information they had could wait until after Christmas.

But then, as she was flipping through the file to make sure everything she needed was there, they called back.

That was odd, but it wouldn't be the first time someone had been overly pushy about getting a story to her.

She answered the call with her voice recorder on in case it was for a story, planning on letting whomever was calling know that she would get back to them after the holiday, but when she greeted them she just heard someone crying.

“Hello?”

It sounded like some sort of alarm was going off in the background, and she could hear tons of overlapping voices.

“You've reached Lois-,”

*Momma!!*

Jon!

Yyyyy

As soon as the bullets began flying, Roy grabbed the hands of whoever was running beside him and made a sharp right at the end of the hall, realizing too late that Dick, Jason, and Damian turned left.

Conner and the rich kid who had shown him the path through the kitchen kept pace with him as they turned and dodged up any hall they came across, doing their best to lose the crazy elf lady, but she stayed on their tail.

“What do you want?!!” The rich kid screamed, half turning around to face her.

“Give me the Kryptonian!” She demanded, and Roy felt Conner’s hand tighten in his.

Deciding to process that later, Roy sped up and pulled both boys with him.

They rounded another corner and spotted their salvation; a propped open door labeled ‘PARKING’.

“There!” Roy barked.

The three of them dove through the door and Conner slammed it shut, planted his feet and held it in place.

They were in a private, indoor garage, presumably intended for vehicles and cargo that couldn't be left out in a parking lot.

“We need to find something to lock it!” The rich kid grabbed his arm and tugged, but Roy pulled back.

“No! What about the others?”

“They're fine! She chased us! They've probably already found someone and called the cops!”

“And if they haven't?”

“Hey!” Conner snapped. “I can't hold this forever! Find something!”

The elf lady rammed into the door, opening it slightly, but Conner grunted and shoved it closed again.

Jason, Dick, and Damian were still in the building with her, but they had also run the other way.

And the lady only wanted Conner, which meant that they were her target, and not the other three.

She slammed into the door again, and Roy ran to one of the vans that had hauled in the Christmas decorations, quickly finding a bungee cord that he threw to the rich kid.

Rich kid quickly looped it around the door handle, and then around a nearby yellow cement pole, and then hooked it back to the handle, pulling it tight.

Conner cautiously stepped back from the door, but didn't lower his hands or take a breath until she slammed into the door again, and it barely budged.

“Whew.”

“Okay.”

“Are we all good?” Roy whispered, breaking the silence that fell as they waited for her to try again to get through the door.

“Yeah.” Conner nodded. “We need to find a way out of here.”

“And maybe some new pants.” Rich kid tried to half-heartedly joke.

Roy and Conner could both see that he was shaking, though.

“We pulled the alarm, so now we just have to wait for the cops to get here-,”

Without warning, Conner let out a pained scream and crumpled to the floor, shaking.

“Conner!”

Behind him, holding a weapon identical to the gun-looking thing the elf lady had had, was Lex Luthor.

Before Roy could even start to process the absurdity of one of the wealthiest men in the country assaulting a teenager, Luthor pointed the weapon at him.

“All three of you, get in the van.”